The Vancouver Status of Women is a feminist collective that strives to work in an anti-oppressive and non-hierarchical environment that values all experiences and ways of knowing.

We are also a resource which builds upon existing methods and strategies of anti-oppression, particularly through the medium of popular education. We venture to provide a collated resource library of anti-oppression resources and materials which are made available to all community groups, organizations or educational institutions for the purpose of integrated, progressive, anti-oppressive work within our society. Concurrently, VSW creates and provides Anti-Oppression Workshops for and within the community with the hope of creating social justice.

Principles of Anti-Oppression

 Power and privilege play out in our group dynamics and we must continually struggle with how we challenge power and privilege.

 We can only identify how power and privilege play out when we are conscious and committed to understanding how racism, sexism, homophobia, and all other forms of oppression affect each one of us.

 Until we are clearly committed to anti-oppression practice all forms of oppression will continue to divide our movements and weaken our power.

 Developing an anti-oppressive practice is life-long work and requires a life-long commitment. We are all vulnerable to being oppressive and we need to continuously struggle with these issues.

 Dialogue and discussion are necessary and we need to learn how to listen non-defensively and communicate respectfully if we are going to have effective anti-oppression practices. Challenge yourself to be honest and open and take risks to address oppression head-on.